Larry McMurtry to Substitute for Zadie Smith at Harper’s

Zadie Smith is going on leave for an “indefinite period” from writing the New Books column at Harper’s magazine, according to the AP. The author of Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry, will be writing it instead. Editor Ellen Rosenbush’s declared goal of getting more women published in the magazine seems to be on track, however. She has said that she would like one woman writer per issue (ambitious!) Unless we counted wrong, in the current issue there appears to be one short story by a woman, excluding Readings, so everything’s on track despite Ms. Smith’s absence.